# What would happen to our economy if Christmas ceased to exist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 19, 2015, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-to-our-economy-if-christmas-ceased-to-exist/740832 "2015-12-19T04:15:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2015, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-to-our-economy-if-christmas-ceased-to-exist/740832/1 "2015-12-19T04:15:29Z")
I don’t know if there’s a debate here, I’m just curious. What if people just stopped all the rituals associated with Christmas? Yes, I’m aware that Christmas borrowed a lot of rituals, and I’m aware that you don’t have to be a specific religion to celebrate and practice them… Let’s just say the whole consept is done with and New Years is the biggest holiday after Thanksgiving. I understand that Chrismas Tree sellers would be out of business, but there’s more to it than that. If you live in a place where there’s shitty weather that time of year, I would expect it’s impact would be catastrophic. Very few people where I live wouldn’t be out-and-about unless they had an excuse to be. I guess I’m wondering what the total outcome would be. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2015, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-to-our-economy-if-christmas-ceased-to-exist/740832/2 "2015-12-19T05:41:07Z")
I figure the world’s businesses would adapt quite easily. - Gadgetmakers would shift their release dates to June to hook in to Father’s Day and graduation celebrations. - Restaurants would heavily promote New Year’s as a time for large gatherings of family and friends. - Likewise, clothing manufacturers would advertise “New Looks for New Year’s” to capture December sales. - Car manufacturers would probably still sell the most cars in December by offering “Buy Now, Pay Later With Your Tax Return” promotions. - Blockbuster films would still be targeted to December for Oscar prestige. And Finally, as someone who lives in the land of shitty weather, it really doesn’t get bad until January. No one in the northern states is hiding in their house in December because it’s a little chilly. ---
**Author:** ![bb49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b38774/32.png) [@bb49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bb49)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2015, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-to-our-economy-if-christmas-ceased-to-exist/740832/3 "2015-12-19T06:52:26Z")
The money would be spent somewhere and at some time eventually. Life would go on, except a bunch of elves would be out of work. ---
**Author:** ![T.M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ad7895/32.png) [@T.M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.M)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2015, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-to-our-economy-if-christmas-ceased-to-exist/740832/4 "2015-12-19T08:33:50Z")
The party starts with Christmas and ends with New Year, even if all religious meaning was removed the party will continue. In a world where the physical distance between families is growing Christmas is the time of year for touching base On a religious note for Christians like myself it is a time to celebrate the birth of Christ and for Muslims to celebrate the birth of one of their prophets. As for the party shifting to fathers day that would mean the festivities moving even nearer to the time of Christ’s birth But that is a debate for another day ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-to-our-economy-if-christmas-ceased-to-exist/740832/5 "2015-12-20T00:12:34Z")
Look at it this way - SUPPOSE your local McDonald’s closed down. Would you fret, “Oh no, all the money people used to spend there is no out of circulation, and the like local economy will collapse”? Of course not! People aren’t going to take the cash they used to spend on Happy Meals and burn it! They’ll spend the money elsewhere, that’s all. If there were no big holiday that obliged me to spend big bucks on presents, I’d have more money to spend on my own wants. Bad for toy makers, but good for other businesses. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-to-our-economy-if-christmas-ceased-to-exist/740832/6 "2015-12-20T00:37:13Z")
Capitalists want to extract as much wealth from the population as possible, but I’m not sure if they could invent another holiday with as much peer pressure and emotional blackmail as Christmas. Valentine’s was pretty good though, so I’ll give them a puncher’s chance. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-to-our-economy-if-christmas-ceased-to-exist/740832/7 "2015-12-20T03:14:52Z")
There would be an awful lot of seasonal music that would no longer make any sense. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-to-our-economy-if-christmas-ceased-to-exist/740832/8 "2015-12-20T08:34:41Z")
There’d be very little peace on earth or good will . . . Oh, wait . . . ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-to-our-economy-if-christmas-ceased-to-exist/740832/9 "2015-12-20T09:05:51Z")
Someone would invent some other winter opportunity to spend money. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-to-our-economy-if-christmas-ceased-to-exist/740832/10 "2015-12-20T11:10:25Z")
Christmas is just the Winter Solstice a few days late, which people have been celebrating since the dawn of time. So I think we’d still be celebrating at this time of year. BTW I believe that not so long ago it was Easter (the spring equinox) that was the major Christian festival. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-to-our-economy-if-christmas-ceased-to-exist/740832/11 "2015-12-20T22:26:26Z")
Christmas tree sellers would get screwed, but people would start giving out presents on New Years instead - so no big change. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2015, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-to-our-economy-if-christmas-ceased-to-exist/740832/12 "2015-12-20T23:01:28Z")
Possibly a drop in the seasonal suicide rate. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-to-our-economy-if-christmas-ceased-to-exist/740832/13 "2015-12-21T00:52:49Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Possibly a drop in the seasonal suicide rate. Given that the suicide rate is lowest at this time of year, that seems unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-to-our-economy-if-christmas-ceased-to-exist/740832/14 "2015-12-21T00:57:35Z")
> [@RadicalPi](#): > > Given that the suicide rate is lowest at this time of year, that seems unlikely. Huh, I see on examination that you’re right. Okay, a _rise_ in the suicide rate. ---
**Author:** ![Murf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Murf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Murf)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-to-our-economy-if-christmas-ceased-to-exist/740832/15 "2015-12-21T02:13:04Z")
I’m sure Hallmark would come up with another holiday pretty quickly. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-to-our-economy-if-christmas-ceased-to-exist/740832/16 "2015-12-21T02:14:55Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Christmas is just the Winter Solstice a few days late, which people have been celebrating since the dawn of time. So I think we’d still be celebrating at this time of year. > > BTW I believe that not so long ago it was Easter (the spring equinox) that was the major Christian festival. Easter is the highest holy day. Not Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-to-our-economy-if-christmas-ceased-to-exist/740832/17 "2015-12-21T04:50:45Z")
People would spend their winter entertainment budget on cross country skiing or porn. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-to-our-economy-if-christmas-ceased-to-exist/740832/18 "2015-12-21T05:15:23Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > There would be an awful lot of seasonal music that would no longer make any sense. Then we would all probably be hearing a lot less of that seasonal music. Sounds like a plus to me! ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-to-our-economy-if-christmas-ceased-to-exist/740832/19 "2015-12-30T03:10:38Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Then we would all probably be hearing a lot less of that seasonal music. Sounds like a plus to me! No we need Christmas music, and good break from regular music. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-to-our-economy-if-christmas-ceased-to-exist/740832/20 "2015-12-30T03:12:12Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > There would be an awful lot of seasonal music that would no longer make any sense. Many Christmas music actually make winter references and none to Christmas. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-to-our-economy-if-christmas-ceased-to-exist/740832.md?page=2)